I decided to post early this week to avoid the holiday run-off. I wish you all a lovely holiday weekend. If, like me, you’ll be spending a good portion of it writing, well then I wish you happy writing.
The Business of Writing
Could Changes in the Copyright Law Save Newspapers?
This article in Editor & Publisher describes the argument that copyright law should be amended to bar aggregation. I think rewriting copy just to avoid infringing on copyright is a violation, but linking to it? If no one links to your content, how will people find it? I’m not sure I’m on board with this one.
Poll Results on E-published Author Earnings per Title
Marianne Lacroix provides some actual data on how much an e-published author may earn. The results were from an anonymous poll, so there could be a large chunk of non-responders or even multiple responders, but it is the first attempt I have seen to quantify earnings for e-publishers. I hope this begins a concerted effort to quantify writers’ earnings so that we can all enter the profession knowing what to expect financially.
Are You There, Amazon? It’s Me, JA
JA Konrath tells us why he doesn’t plan to buy a Kindle and what he would like to see from ebooks and ebook readers in the future.
Should You Self-Publish?
Another great post from JA Konrath. Here he gives some tips on when you should and shouldn’t self-publish.
Waiting By the Phone
The life of a writer isn’t so different from the life of a teenage girl after all. We are hit with horrible bouts of low self-esteem. We have to fight for respect from those around us. And we sit and wait for the phone to ring (or the email to pop up,as the case may be).
Craft
So What Are You?
A little kick in the pants from agent Janet Reid. Don’t spend your time thinking up fun ways to describe yourself; spend it writing.
Pre-Editing
Moonrat discusses the pros and cons of hiring an editor to help you shape up your manuscript for submission to agents and/or editors. It can be great, or it can be a huge money waster. Keep these points in mind when you make the decision of when or whether you need an editor.
Fiction
Normative Heterosexuality and the Alpha Male Hero
An interesting and informative look at the role of the alpha in our culture and in our fantasy.
Charting the Novel Story Arc
An essential component of the self-editing process, ensuring that your novel follows a strong arc, with an appropriate amount of time spent on buildup and release of tension can be time-consuming. Patricia Stoltey gives one way of handling the process.
Freelancing
Freelance Writer Hiring Trends: Credit Checks and Drug Tests??
Michael Stelzner describes a recent experience with a potential freelance client who wanted him to undergo a full background screening, as if he were coming on staff. We can debate the practice of background checks on staff until the cows come home, but I thought part of the reason we wanted to freelance was to be free of the restrictions of full-time office work. This seems a bit over the top to me.
How Not to Hire Freelance Writers and Bloggers
Jennifer Mattern weighs in on some further practices that make the hiring process a bit unwieldy for the average freelancer. In particular, the idea of writing a custom sample can be a bit much. The life of a freelancer is spent on so many different non-writing tasks, that our writing time really needs to be reserved for billable projects, not spec work.
Sunday Wash-Up 5th July « Shack's Comings and Goings // Oct 2, 2009 at 5:12 am
[...] Jennifer Roland’s – Writing Roundup, July 2 Each week I am linking to Jennifer Roland’s Roundup, so if you have loads of time or the links here were not of high interest then pop over to her page. [...]